In certain rail vehicles, e.g., locomotives, the rail vehicle is outfitted with an on-board safety system for automatically controlling the train upon the occurrence of one or more designated events. For example, in a positive train control (PTC) system, if a rail vehicle violates a wayside signal (such as passing through a red aspect signal), a signal is transmitted to the rail vehicle, with an on-board system automatically applying the brakes of the rail vehicle in response to receiving the signal.
However, if the safety system fails, the rail vehicle may be unable to properly respond to occurrences of the designated events. Additionally, in many systems, the rail vehicle may be automatically controlled to a fault control state if the on-board system fails. For example, in some systems, the brake system of the rail vehicle is automatically applied for bringing the rail vehicle to a stop, for safety purposes.
For systems where the rail vehicle is still mobile even after the on-board safety system has failed, this may result in unsafe operating conditions. Additionally, for systems where the rail vehicle is brought to a halt after the safety system fails, this results in blocked tracks, vehicle downtime, and the like.
Other vehicle systems may be configured to operate similarly. For example, consists of non-rail off highway vehicles may have on-board safety systems for automatically braking the consist for safety purposes upon the occurrence of designated events. If the on-board safety system on one of the vehicles fails, it may be the case that the consist is automatically braked to as a fault control state.
It may be desirable to have a vehicle control system (e.g., safety related control) that differs in aspects or functionality from currently available vehicle control systems.